Traffic tickets to go electronic in B.C.

Drivers in B.C. are issued nearly half a million traffic tickets each year for speeding, driving with burned-out headlights and other offences under the provincial Motor Vehicle Act, and those dreaded blue hand-written carbon copies are on the way out.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth has introduced amendments to the Offence Act and Motor Vehicle Act to allow electronic entry of information and get rid of duplication in processing.

“When a police officer hand-writes a violation ticket on the side of the road, the ticket information is then entered five separate times in separate systems, and the ticket must be physically transferred between police agencies, ICBC and the provincial court,” Farnworth told the legislature.

“Each time ticket information is entered in the system it presents an opportunity for errors that may result in that ticket being cancelled. The proposed amendments will allow for a new e-ticketing process that is more efficient, reduces cancellations due to error, one that maintains the secure capture and transfer of traffic ticket information – in other words, moving us into the 21st century.”

The bill Farnworth introduced is expected to be passed into law by the end of November.